GAUDEAMUS
The annual Gaudeamus Muziekweek is the oldest music festival in the Netherlands and takes place in Utrecht since 2011. It is the international meeting place for young composers and music pioneers from all over the world. An important part of the Gaudeamus Muziekweek is the Gaudeamus award, an incentive prize for composers up to the age of 35.
PROGRAMME 2022
MERCREDI 7 SEPTEMBRE 2022, 19:00 - 23:30 / OPENING NIGHT @ TIVOLI
# But What About
New music by Bekah Simms and Baldwin Giang
# XTRO (NL) - "Seated"
Dynamic percussion trio XTRO combines minimal music, electronic music, acoustic instruments, theatrical elements and dance into an exciting whole.
Works by Celia Swart (NL) and Nicholas Morrish (UK)
# XTRO (NL) - "Waste of Time"
Dynamic percussion trio XTRO with 'pop'-programme.
Programme : Patrick Ellis - Objects and Portrait Projections / Ann Southam - Natural Resources / Evan Chapman - Glymur
# Thanasis Deligiannis (NL) - "ENA ENA"
ENA ENA by music theatre maker Thanasis Deligiannis and his collective I/O is a hallucinatory, dreamlike recreation of a Greek nightclub from the 1980s. An inebriated band plays classics from the Greek klarina tradition until the atmosphere changes and nothing is what it seems. The maker’s deep personal memories unfold into an ambiguous exploration of borders, memory, and transformations. ENA ENA was one of the highlights of Gaudeamus 2021 and will be reprised once more during 2022.
# Rembrandt Frerichs & de Staalmeesters (NL)
In his new project Off the Carousel, pianist and composer Rembrandt Frerichs challenges classical musicians to step outside their comfort zone. Whereas in their daily work they are only allowed to play what a composer wrote down centuries ago, Frerichs lets them improvise and create. With the perfecting of classical music, improvisation – originally an important part of the working method of many classical composers – has increasingly faded into the background. In Off the Carousel, Frerichs and his musicians seek to rediscover spontaneity and creativity.
# Asko | Schönberg (NL)
Asko|Schönberg, one of Holland’s leading ensembles in new music, traditionally opens Gaudeamus Festival. Under the inspiring leadership of conductor Clark Rundell, they bring a programme that spans generations and continents. This includes the crazy Ilolli pop – something between cartoon music, free jazz and contemporary classical music – performed by Gaudeamus Award 2022-nominee Alex Paxton, and The Color Yellow by jury member Huang Ruo, with a solo role for the renowned sheng-player Wu Wei.
Parmi les 4 compositeurs·rices de ce programme, qu'une seule est basée aux Pays-Bas : Lise Morrison.
JEUDI 8 SEPTEMBRE 2022, 19:00 - 23:30
# New Music from the Dom 2022 (NL)
What composer would not want to do it: write a piece for the most seen and heard instrument of Utrecht, the Dom Tower? Every year, city carillonneur Malgosia Fiebig plays an hour of new music from the tower. For 2022’s edition,, five students from the composition department of HKU’s Music & Technology course, and the Conservatory of Amsterdam were invited to write a piece. This year, with an extra challenge: adding an electronic counterpart to the sound of the tower. The 900th anniversary of Utrecht is the theme of this extraordinary clash of new and centuries old. New works by Silva Westra, Impes Beheshtipour, Marcin Cieslak, George Dumitriu, Apollon Kalamenios.
# IN-SITU/CITY: Gemma Luz Bosch (NL)
In-Situ/City is an ongoing project that focuses on the city as an ever-changing changing collection of historical, cultural, political and social signifiers. For Gaudeamus 2022, four young makers (groups) were commissioned to create new work that reflects on this theme, with a special focus on the relationship between humans and non-humans.
Sound artist Gemma Luz Bosch, born in Spain and residing in Utrecht, is fascinated by the origin of sound. From her research in exploring ways to add new sounds to the existing palette, she developed a series of ceramic flutes that produce a beautiful, organic sound when in contact with water. For Gaudeamus Festival, Gemma will build a sound installation at the Weerdsluis in Utrecht, that she will baptize during the opening night and that will evolve throughout the week. “Stagnation is silence, movement is sound.”
# Passepartout Duo
Imagine an archaeological site far in the future, long after our society has collapsed, ceramic artifacts are being found. New stories merge from these dormant and lifeless objects, in an attempt to unravel a long-lost history. In this musical theatre performance, the Passepartout Duo of pianist Nicoletta Favari and percussionist Christopher Salvito take on the role of archaeologists from the future. During a residency at the Europees Keramisch Werkcentrum (EKWC) the musicians have developed new ceramic objects, especially for this project, that can generate sound using electronics. Throughout the festival, the newfound stories of these ceramic objects can be seen and heard during a continuous exhibition at Movement Exposed Gallery Space.
# Myriam Bleau & Efrain Rozas
A musical box with 75 CDs cut into pieces, which can be ‘listened to’ using a handle on the side. A rhythm robot that frees itself from the rigid straitjacket of Western musical notation and does justice to the rhythms of South America with six independently moving bells. Myriam Bleau’s Stories of Mechanical Music and Efrain Rozas’ Myth and Prosthesis I: Do Robots have an ethnicity? both comment in a playful way on the area of conflict between music and technology. Both sound installations will be presented during Gaudeamus Festival 2022 in Museum Speelklok. The installations can be viewed in the museum until December 1.
# Two Envelopes
Two Envelopes combines performative elements and electronics with classical elements. Music that turns left just when you think the performers are turning right, ‘impossible’ sound combinations, sounds that detach themselves and cut the ground from under your feet. An ensemble par excellence that young composers like to work with. Of the five composers nominated for the Gaudeamus Award this year, three were commissioned to write new work for Two Envelopes. The work of Bethany Younge and Alex Paxton – ranging from rich in detail and strongly visual to maximum and all over the place – will be premiered in this concert.
# TROMPO (NL) & Nick Dunston
The three members of T R O M P O have in common their love of (post)minimal, playing beautiful, strange sounds, and exploring the limits of their instruments. The name T R O M P O comes from ‘El Trompo’, a toy resembling a spinning top, popular in Central and South America, but it also refers to kebab-like meat that is eaten on tacos. All in all a fitting name for them, given their multicultural and playful approach to music. In this concert, they will be playing new works by the New York composer and bassist Nick Dunston, who is often involved with improvisation.
# Riot Ensemble
“Volcanically creative” is how Alex Ross of The New Yorker described the English Riot Ensemble. During Gaudeamus 2022 they will play twice, with their programme on Thursday evening focussing on the Gaudeamus Award. This year’s nominees for this prestigious prize for young composers, which is the common theme of the festival, include Bekah Simms and Baldwin Giang. Riot Ensemble will perform music by them, and by this year’s Award jury member Ann Cleare.
# Bram Stadhouders (NL)
Every musician hopes to elevate the concert experience to new listening dimensions: live music as a true total experience. Bram Stadhouders is just such a person. Whether he is working with Jim Black, Sidsel Endresen, a giant barrel organ or the Netherlands Chamber Choir, he is always pushing the boundaries. With the 3D sound experience Orbit, Stadhouders takes the experience of music to an other-worldly level. Every string of his self-developed surround guitar is connected to a different corner of the hall. Refusing to allow yourself to be carried away is no longer an option once you have entered the overwhelming, mathematical, harmonic experience that is Orbit.
# Castello Consort (NL)
A Baroque ensemble, at Gaudeamus?? No, you haven’t accidentally ended up with our Utrecht Early Music Festival colleagues of a week earlier. Especially for Gaudeamus, the Castello Consort, normally experts in the Renaissance and Early Baroque, take on the challenge of collaborating with two contemporary Dutch composers. The young and talented Rick van Veldhuizen (NL) and Martijn Padding (NL), one of the pre-eminent Dutch composers of recent decades, are well aware of what exciting things can happen when the old and the new come together. New works by Rick van Veldhuizen and Martijn Padding.
# Ensemble Modelo62 (NL)
Three Degrees from Reality is an interdisciplinary installation by Ensemble Modelo62 that makes the ‘new normal’ as it was created during the corona pandemic tangible in three different realities: two physical and one online presentation, each in its own space. Not only do images, sound, smell, and technology come together in the performance, but the audience also has an active role. The installation invites reflection on the impact of keeping one’s distance versus the need for contact.
VENDREDI 9 SEPTEMBRE 2022 / VISITORS PROGRAM DAY 1 (NL)
10:30 - 11:30 - check-in hotel
11:30 - 12:30 - meet & greet @ Café Het Gegeven Paard Tivoli
12:30 - 13:30 - Lunch break concert: Ulysses Percussion Ensemble @ Tivoli Grote Zaal
In countless ways the European music network Ulysses connects young composers, musicians and organisers in the world of contemporary composed music. One of the ways they achieve this is with their own Ulysses Ensemble: every year a new group of young musicians are given the opportunity to perform at various European festivals and to follow courses of study. This year the Ulysses Ensemble focuses exclusively on percussion. Five talented young percussionists, accompanied by star percussionist Rémi Schwartz of Les Percussions de Strasbourg, will play challenging works by Iannis Xenakis and brand-new music, written especially for this concert, by young composers Mioko Yokoyama and James Alexandropoulos-McEwan.
14:30 - 15:30 - IN-SITU/CITY: Gemma Luz Bosch (NL)
In-Situ/City is an ongoing project that focuses on the city as an ever-changing changing collection of historical, cultural, political and social signifiers. For Gaudeamus 2022, four young makers (groups) were commissioned to create new work that reflects on this theme, with a special focus on the relationship between humans and non-humans.
Sound artist Gemma Luz Bosch, born in Spain and residing in Utrecht, is fascinated by the origin of sound. From her research in exploring ways to add new sounds to the existing palette, she developed a series of ceramic flutes that produce a beautiful, organic sound when in contact with water. For Gaudeamus Festival, Gemma will build a sound installation at the Weerdsluis in Utrecht, that she will baptize during the opening night and that will evolve throughout the week. “Stagnation is silence, movement is sound.”
15:30 - 18:00 - visite Broedplaats Onderbuik (NL) / Luisterroute Annabel Schouten (NL)
Sound finder Annabel Schouten is fascinated by the relationship between man and nature, and by the temporary and space-defined essence of our existence. Annabel designs sound installations with the intention for them to become one with the environment, both visually and audibly. During this walking concert, you are invited to give yourself over to everything that is happening around you. Are the environmental sounds accompanying the performers, or is it the other way around?
18:00 - 19:00 - dîner @ Broei (Oosterkade)
19:00 - 23:30 Evening program with, a.o:
# Amstel Quartet (NL) & Una Cintina
In its 25 years of existence, the saxophone quartet Amstel Quartet has used the saxophone to its full potential. No wonder the Dutch press called the Amstel Quartet “the most colorful saxophone quartet in the world”. For several years the quartet has been working closely with the Ukrainian-Dutch composer Maxim Shalygin (UKR/NL) , who writes superb, ambitious, and physically intense music. The work Todos los Fuego el Fuego that he wrote for Amstel Quartet and the Keuris Quartet made it into the NRC’s top 5 best classical music of 2019. The collaboration went so well that Shalygin rewrote his new piece Songlessness for the Amstel Quartet, this time joined by organist Una Cintina. An imaginative and infinite sound world that explores our perception of time and its flexibility.
à compléter
SAMEDI 10 SEPTEMBRE 2022 / VISITORS PROGRAM DAY 2 (NL)
12:00 - 13:30 - Riot Ensemble @ Pieter Baan Centrum
13:30 - 15:00 - Déjeuner, meeting with Dutch artists, like, a.o. Michela Amici, Annabel Schouten, Thomas Ankersmit, Gemma Luz Bosch, James Alexandropoulos-McEwan
15:00 - 18:00 - Matteo Gualandi, Tijmen Lohmeijer, Esther Wu, Screen Dive @ De Nijverheid
18:00 - 20:00 - Dîner @ De Utrechter
20:00 - 01:00 - evening program à compléter
DIMANCHE 11 SEPTEMBRE 2022 / VISITORS PROGRAM DAY 3 (NL)
10:00 - 11:00 - Visite Broedplaats Sounds Like Touch (Dianne Verdonk) @ Hof van Cartesius
11:00 - 13:00 - Programme avec, e.a., les artistes Tijmen Lohmeijer, Esther Wu, Spaceship Ensemble, XTRO, Rafaele Andrade
# Esther Chi Ching Wu (NL) is a Dutch-based composer whose works include cross-media, scenography, interactive media and sound installations in public spaces. At Gaudeamus 2022, Esther presents her unique audiospatial installation The Other, an installation for one person to experience at a time.The participant has the authority to influence the outcome of the work, be the subject of the work, or perform part of the work. A participatory experience which aims to sonically engage the individual in a highly reflective and domestic space full of mirrors and daily objects. This installation was made possible with support of ULYSSES Network and Creative Europe.
13:00 - 17:55 - Déjeuner et programme artistique (avec e.a. Espen Hjort & Mees Borgman, Frieda Gustavs, Ensemble Resilience) @ De Nijverheid
18:00 - 19:00 - Dîner @ Waku Waku
19:00 - 20:15 - Soirée de clôture @ Tivoli, avec, e.a. Spaceship Ensemble
# Maya Fridman @ Saskia Venegas (NL) - Charismatic cellist Maya Fridman (originally from Russia but residing in The Netherlands) has been in the spotlight in recent years with adventurous but always accessible projects in which she is constantly seeking out the boundaries of classical music and performance art. During Gaudeamus 2022, she will play a piece by Saskia Venegas written especially for her, about the myth of Medusa: the chaste woman who was raped by the god Poseidon and who, as ‘punishment’ for this, was banished by Athena and changed into a monster with snakes instead of hair. A cruel story, which in Venegas’ piece painfully unfolds the nightmare of the women who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of gender abuse.
# Orkest De Ereprijs (NL) - Personal background is important and unavoidable for a composer, just as it is for all of us. But what kind of influence does it have exactly on his or her work? In their concert series Personal Cultures, Orkest De Ereprijs invited five composers to form a musical answer to the question: “Where does this come from?” The pieces in the programme all embody a personal relationship with musical culture and give insight into backgrounds and origin. Listeners from different cultures and traditions meet each other in a new musical melting pot.
à compléter